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In their final debate, Sen. Susan Collins and Shenna Bellows went back and forth Wednesday over the tone of the campaign, the implications of a Republican-controlled Senate and whether Maine’s Ebola quarantine was justified or political posturing. Both Collins, a Republican, and her Democratic challenger were poised yet assertive during the sit-down debate hosted by WCSH’s Pat Callaghan. Perhaps the most striking disparity of the night was in response to […]

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Shenna Bellows will square off one last time tonight during the final televised debate before Election Day. If the four previous debates are any indication, tonight’s event should be spirited and fast-paced. The debate will be aired live on WCSH6 in Portland from 7:30 to 8 p.m. This is Bellows’ last chance to challenge Collins face to face – something the Democrat has done repeatedly […]

A super political action committee funded by a New York billionaire released a new ad in the Maine governor’s race that features testimonials of former Eliot Cutler supporters who say they now support Democrat Mike Michaud. The PAC, NextGen Climate Maine, debuted the ad on a rolling Jumbotron in Portland’s Monument Square on Monday with a number of Michaud supporters in attendance. Several Eliot Cutler supporters also were there and called […]

Maine is the 6th most politically engaged state, according to a new survey conducted by WalletHub, a personal finance social network. Maine came in behind Massachusetts, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Washington, D.C., which is not a state, ranked 4th. West Virginia ranked last. The survey (which can be see in full here) looked at six different metrics, including voter registration and turnout as well as political contributions and spending. One […]

An online poll of the Maine governor’s race released Monday showed what a lot of public polls released over the last few months have shown: Democrat Mike Michaud and Republican incumbent Gov. Paul LePage locked in a close race. However, the YouGov poll, sponsored by CBS News and the New York Times, also had independent Eliot Cutler below 10 percent and showed that more than one in five Maine voters […]

For more than a month now, the Maine Democratic Party has been sending mailers to homes in the 2nd Congressional District with one message: Republican Bruce Poliquin wants government to regulate women’s bodies. The claims in the mailers are cloudy, but that’s largely because of unclear past statements from Poliquin. The party won’t say how much money it has spent on the mailers or the types of voters they went to, but there have been […]

A political action committee funded by billionaire investor and philanthropist Tom Steyer on Wednesday disclosed it has purchased more than $236,000 in radio ads across the state opposing the reelection of Republican Gov. Paul LePage. The financial filing by NextGen Climate super-PAC, which seeks to bring climate change to the forefront of U.S. politics, is the single largest expenditure in Maine for the group, which has committed to spending $50 […]

The Republican Governor’s Association has released a new television advertisment touting the business expertise of Gov. Paul LePage. The ad stars a woman identified only as Carolyn of Scarborough, who tells viewers that she is an independent who believes in the changes in regulatory process initiated by LePage. In addition to 17,000 new jobs, the reforms “sent a very important message that this was a state that was open for […]

Democrat Shenna Bellows went on the offensive against Republican Sen. Susan Collins on Monday night during the first of five debates in the U.S. Senate race as she attempts to make headway against the popular, three-term incumbent. The two sparred over the minimum wage, equal pay for women, energy, President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and Collins’ voting record during an hour-long debate hosted by WAGM in Presque Isle. The link […]

The focus of Maine’s U.S. Senate race has turned to jobs and job creation as Democrat Shenna Bellows unveiled an “economic plan” while Republican Sen. Susan Collins released a new ad and touted her own jobs plan. The plans outlined Friday by the competing campaigns were aligned on several non-controversial areas, such as increased investment in workforce training and on the development of cutting-edge renewable energy technology that would benefit Maine. […]